Flying

These days, everyone in the aviation field talks about composite aircraft. Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is made mostly of carbon fiber composites, and the percentage of composite content in new business jet designs is on the rise. Over time, carbon fiber may, indeed, replace metal as the material of choice for aircraft. But how did we get here?

Before any business jet manufacturer delivers an airplane to a buyer, a lot of work goes into completing the cabin. To give you an idea of what that work involves, Business Jet Traveler visited Dassault’s completions center in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Traveling with the airlines these days often means paying extra for a ho-hum sandwich and bag of chips, but mealtime can be the highlight of a private flight for foodies. The bizav caterers listed here offer a wide range of options, including many that compare to what you’d enjoy in the world’s finest restaurants.

Growth could literally be in the cards for the bizav industry. Sentient Jet, which claims 4,000 jet card customers, reports 35 percent sales growth for 2014, while card purchases at Delta Private Jets set records last year and card hours flown in NetJets’ Marquis program saw double-digit growth.

Found a great vintage while traveling and wondering how to get it home safely? Wrapping a piece of clothing around a bottle and placing it in your suitcase is the most common way of transporting wine, but it might not be the best.

Cessna’s entire line of Citation CJ light jets has remained popular over the years. Offering varying degrees of stretch of the same diameter fuselage, the models share certain characteristics. But talk to CJ owners and it quickly becomes apparent that one variant stands out above its siblings as the perfect combination of range, performance and operating economics: the seven- to nine-passenger CJ3, which first entered service in 2004.

Lots of products boast of being the biggest and most advanced, but Dassault’s new large-cabin 5X twinjet really delivers on those claims. Among other things, it changes the standard for cabin comfort, aircraft performance and ease of maintenance. And it provides an impressive template for follow-on aircraft.